Good evening everybody. Welcome to the city council meeting of Greenfield. Today is the 21st of January and it's uh 6:31. So, thank you all for being here. Um
this meeting is being recorded by the city council and Greenfield Community Television. If any other persons present are doing the same, you must notify we of our regular. Um, and so we'll start out with a roll call of members if
that's okay. Clerk, >> sure. You want to do it? Why not? >> Okay, let's do it. >> Councelor Golib, >> here. Councelor Gordon has been delayed but will be joining us online in the
future. Councelor Bottomley >> here. >> Councelor Bullock >> here. >> Councelor Williams >> here. >> Councelor Baldick >> here. >> Councelor Webb >> here. >> Councelor Brown >> here. >> Vice President Garrett >> here.
>> Councelor Minhos has not arrived. >> Councelor Cisan >> here. President Wandowski >> here. >> Madame President, you have a quorum. >> Great. Welcome everybody. It's so good
to see all the new faces. So, uh, we've got a easier agenda to ease into the year for y'all before we really get into the crazy voting stuff. Um, and thank you to everybody who's here to present. And, um, just as a reminder, we've got the
public comment signup sheet over there. So, we're going to start with the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag >> of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with
liberty and justice for all. Madame President, Councelor Minhas has arrived. >> Thank you. All right. So, um, next order of business is our minutes. We don't have any to approve yet, so we will do that
next time around. So, we're going to move to, um, communications from the superintendent of schools and the school committee. So, I'd like to welcome our new chair up as well as the superintendent. So, thanks for being here. Thanks for having
us. You want to go first? You want me to go first? I can go first. >> Um, hi everyone. Good to see you all. Uh, I'm mostly going to be talking about our superintendent search and giving you an update and a status, a report on that
part of our work. Um, I am very pleased to report that our finalist interviews are scheduled for next Monday. Please put that on your calendars. I would love to see you there. Um, 6:30 p.m. right here in this very John Zan. You can also join on Zoom. Um, prior to that, there
will be meet and greets. There's an actual opportunity for you to talk to these people if you would like to. um at 3:15 from 3:15 to 3:45. Also on Monday the 26th in the Greenfield High School foyer um you can talk with uh one of our
uh one of our candidates Sharon Conoyer out of Connecticut and then from 3:45 to 4:15 you can talk to Carol Cruiser who is our second finalist. So we will have those two folks. You are able to actually like see them face to face. Uh the interviews will be reserved for the
school committee to actually do the questioning. So there won't really be a lot of time for you to talk with them then. Um but you can watch uh watch the interviews as they take place. For more information about those candidates, you can look online. We have a dedicated web page on the GPS website for the
superintendent search. Their resumes are there um as well as background materials about the search themselves. And just as a reminder, we started this process back in October. Um, and in December received 25 different applications, conducted a
round a round of first interviews, um, and narrowed it down. And now we have these two finalists, both of whom we're really excited about, and we hope that you're excited about them, too. Um, and so I would just encourage you, please, uh, attend if you can. Um, get to know
these folks, like please, uh, be part of this process. Um, and I will also say that there will be more information if this hasn't already been blasted out to all of our parents and the rest of our community. It will be done ASAP um, in all of the methods that we have available to us, which are many. So, uh,
hopefully this will not be the last time that you're hearing this bit of information if you're connected to the schools at all. Um, that's what I've got and I'll turn it over to the superintendent. >> Thank you. Uh, good evening everyone and welcome to our new counselors.
Uh I have in passed out in front of you an enrollment summary just as a another update has not changed since last month. The numbers few of the numbers at some schools have have flip-flopped but actually our overall enrollment of 1345 still held from December on that one. So
you can see the breakout there. And obviously as we get into starting our budget right now, budget season, we'll have more to share with you in the future in terms of budgets, teacher aotment, etc. that we've heard about in the past that you've questioned. So, we'll have that all that information for you. Some of the nice things that are
going on in our schools, uh the high school has a lot of things going on with our student council. On next week, Wednesday, January 28th, a music bingo fundraiser will be held in the cafeteria from 6:00 to 8 for all family and the cards are $5. And all the money raised will help offset leadership conference
memberships and participation fees for those students. The Key Club has started a shoe drive which is very worthy where the proceeds will will be donated to raise money for Camp Sunshine in Maine. Please consider anybody cleaning out your closets and bringing gently used or
new shoes to the high school. In the athletics department, we're happy to announce that Taylor Berseron was named the Brad's Place athlete of the week. Her coach stated that Taylor is the captain of the girls basketball team who leads by example, giving 100% effort in
practicing games while consistently pushing herself and her teammates to improve. Congratulations to Taylor and the trivia team. Some of you may remember that as as schools match wits, which has changed TV stations and where they're on. They filmed their last one
last uh the 17th just a few days ago against Minichog Regional and we can't tell you because it's embargoed who won. You'll have to stay tuned and see how they did. But we're very excited that they're back on as schools match wits and performing and getting some nice press. That team consists of several
seniors, a junior and an eighth grader. So they've done some nice work there. Um, one of the things that we're going to be doing to increase our academic achievement with our students is offering a vacation academy. You may or may not recall one somewhere held last
year in February and April. We had a special grant. That grant was not available this year, but we did be we were able to allocate some funds and we will be holding a February vacation academy for students in grades K to 4. will be held at four corner school and
as of excuse me the other day approximately 40 people were already signed up from our three elementary schools to do that. That will be held Tuesday to Friday. If you have any interest in that please contact your school's principal, elementary principal and we'll help you get signed up for
that. And we're also excited to announce that the G Greenfield Public Schools GPS stick to reading challenge which you've heard probably over and over from which is with the Thunderbirds hockey team in Springfield that will be going on the
culmination of those activities will be going on this Saturday where we'll have approximately well over a hundred people attending the hockey game and students received a free ticket for reading so many books over a period of time and their parents or
others were able to purchase tickets at a reduced rate to do that. So, any way that we can do and anything that we can do to encourage reading, we're trying to do to our students. Um, want to give some nice thanks out to a lot of good things that have happened. Obviously, now we're in January. We passed a pretty
busy holiday period last month and I was able to attend some great winter concerts um at a very big one at Greenfield High School which consisted of the Greenfield High and Greenfield Middle School. Students performing. They did a great job and I would say that whole auditorium was filled. Some empty
seats in between people but generally filled all the way up to the back in the rafters there and they did a great job. And then I went to Federal Street School as well and uh never saw so many people lining up in the cold before that um and going in there. And I don't I hope the fire department's not here because it
was pretty crowded out back there. But I think that everybody enjoyed it and it's great to see our our parents come out in the middle of the day making time for their students and their students and their music teachers and their regular ed teachers working so hard on that. Um,
another successful event was the Newton Christmas Reading Night that happened just before the holidays and I know that we had many school committee members and many city councilors join us and help read that night. So, thank you to those of you who came out. Um, all the students had a great time and Sant and
Mrs. Claus came out as well, too. So, a good time was had by all on that. Uh, little update here on Federal Street School. You may or may not have heard on New Year's Day, we actually had a small I say small, but it was kind of relatively small water break at Federal
Street School that happened. It was discovered the next morning that affected two cla two rooms, a teachers lounge and a kindergarten classroom, which is relocated right now. um our city maintenance department and our school maintenance department led by Mike Budro and his custodians worked
very quickly to clean it up and get in the insurance company and a restoration company in for that. So, we do still have one teacher, one kindergarten classroom displaced, but into a nice great room with all her materials in there. We're expecting, you know, repairs to start pretty soon. The
insurance company is working with us. So, no, we we expect zero cost to us, us being the city of Greenfield or the public schools, etc., and insurance will cover that, and we'll give you a detailed um update on that when everything comes in and is finalized for
that. And the Greenfield Middle School in terms of capital projects that you've seen in the past and that you had approved in the past was a fire panel upgrade. You may recall that. And $300,000 was allocated to that. um Mike Budro, our director of maintenance, and
the fire department have been working with these companies that do all that. And I'm happy to report that we have signed purchase orders last week for that. And that repair will be taking place over February school vacation. We were able to hustle and get it done so that we could do it when nobody's in the
building because uh if you've ever been around a fire alarm, they are loud now. Very loud. and have strobe lights and lots of some then some of the buildings talk to us now and uh they're pretty can be annoying but effective in that sense of getting you out when you need to be.
But I'd want to thank the um Greenfield Fire Department along with our public works department and our maintenance department at our schools for all doing that. And the key on this one is they were able to do, and I don't want to misspeak when I say this, but casual terms, I'll say a workaround. Instead of
having to do what was initially thought, um, by figuring some different things out and how the system currently works, they're going to end up doing it for, I'm going to tell you, half price, and we are going to save $150,000 on that. So, while $300,000 was allocated, we will only be expending
$150,000 of that. So, thanks to everybody who's working together for that and I think I've given you some examples over the past few months of our department's working together and I really appreciate that and I think that somebody coming in, the new superintendent really should be happy to
see that people do work together for the good of our students and saving your money as well. So, those are my updates. Thank you. >> Thank you, counselors. Any questions for schools? I have one quick question just a I know
it's up on the website but I know there's people on online for your two final candidates like brief synopsis where are they coming from or anything that you can share? >> Sure. Yes. So we have two candidates. Sharon Koyer who I said is out of
Connecticut regional school district 19 I believe that it is. Um and then uh Carol Cruiser who's coming out of Chapi. Um there Sharon is a current uh superintendent in that district and Carol is an assistant superintendent and so they've both are career educators and
have worked their way up from classroom teacher. Um I won't tell you their resume if you're free to go look. Yeah, they're online. Um but needless like we're we're excited about both of these people. I can assure that. >> Great. Thanks. Yeah, the the broad
brushed out strokes are helpful. So, thank you. Any other questions, folks? Great. Well, thank you so much for coming before us. We appreciate it. All right, I'd like to invite the mayor up and anybody else she wants to bring
with her. Well, I printed everything and it's on the counter, so I'm doing it from the phone. Um, good evening everybody. I wanted to explain a little bit about the um cool corridors grant as I was reading
a little bit of misinformation about it. Um the the cost of the 40 trees that we're going to be getting is actually $17,120. the cost of the excavation and disposal of the hardscape and
materials, addition of new soil, receding the area, and installing a cement curb is $29,800. The cost of labor, which includes two years of watering, which they'll do one time a week, and the 20 gallon water bag
and other few things, etc., is $52,860. and where the trees are going, the tree canopy is less than 10%. The tree committee, which is made up entirely of volunteers, guarantees 50 hours of work in this project to assist.
And we actually received this grant because a dedicated member of that um tree committee applied for it or did most of the application and then it it ran through the city. But um the CA the grant money can't be exchanged for any
other work within the city. But we constantly apply for necessities such as sidewalks, um culvert repairs and emergency needs. Uh this year 18,000 of the fire equipment grant will go towards turnout
gear, which is one of the things listed on capital request. Um we received money for sidewalks. Uh, I think it's called safe streets to schools and some there will be sidewalk repairs um near the federal street
school. So, I just wanted to you can't use grant money that you've applied for for something else. And I wanted to assure you all that we apply for all of the necessities that for almost everything else that we would want for if there's an if there is
a a grant for it, we put in an application for it. um on Hope Street, the um Hope Street Public Engagement. Um the plan is to have four community meetings, two with
broad public, two of the Hope Street precinct, seven neighborhoods. These meetings will both these meetings will be will be before the drafting of the RF RFP and a follow-up meeting to share how public feedback was incorporated into
that feedback will happen. Tabling at the library, two-hour shifts on multiple days throughout the course of the month, which will be February. This this will all happen in February for people to learn more, ask questions, etc. and that will be staffed by the economic
development department um coffee office hours in the community with Amy online Google forms to submit input publicly and she's going to release the dates for that later in the
month but she has several tentative dates planned for uh that for February on the budget it was very wonderful news that The charter change passed the House
and Senate was just signed. So the budget will not be due to you by April 17th. And this is actually wonderful news because it gives the department heads a chance to really see where they are at, you know, halime with the
budget. They haven't start they have not well many of them they a few of them may have started but we haven't even sent out the letter for that because we were anticipating that that would happen. the end. So, this is great news. Probably you'll be voting on that in June as most
cities do. Most cities and towns vote on their budget in June. And that was actually the reason for that and giving the department heads more time, which is good because it's going to be a very grim year for um budgeting. It's going to be a really tough year. We have met once with the insurance
company and they projected another 15% increase. That would mean a 45% increase over three years. Uh that's pretty much not sustainable and it's something that every city and town is struggling with.
There may have to be, you know, cuts and layoffs with that. So I just that's pretty grim news. But we here I'm here with the finance director as well if you have any questions on the budget. And I don't know if all of you know
Stephen Stephen some of you are new. Um I was just thinking about that Steven Imaka um CFO. Thank you, Mayor. All right, folks. Now's your chance.
>> I have a question. Council Williams. >> Yes, mayor. >> Um the figures you gave us around the cool quarters grant. So, the the figures you gave us, is that all is that money all covered by the grant? >> All covered. Thank you.
>> Yes, it's $99,000. I actually heard people were saying, "Oh, that's $2,500 a tree," which that's not actually how it works. The trees themselves are about $425 a tree, but there's an awful lot of work. If you've
ever tried to dig through hard soil, you would know that's probably one of the hardest jobs you'd ever have to do. So, I have a quick question unless anybody else has a question. Um, I know in ways and means, uh, you all got a
chance to talk about the last year's budget overages. So, I just wanted to ask again. Um, it looks like we came out ahead because there were some overages and some underages, if you will, deficits and credits. So, I just wanted
to ask that again. Um, because I know you guys got a chance to go really in detail in ways and means. So, any highlights from that would be helpful. I I can >> I can answer that for you. Um, so last night at Ways and Means, it was I think two hours or so. It was a a bit of a
long meeting. Uh, and we went over all the negative balances in the budget. Um, some of them were due to transition. Uh, some were due to uh initial budgeting uh issues. Um, however, at the end of the
day, we still are about a million dollars to the positive. Um, and what we needed to do was I think it's good practice to go over those negatives on a departmental basis uh in order to get a sense of how each department ends up
number one. And then uh so we can adequately budget for the future. Um, budgeting will be tight. There's no question about it. health insurance alone is going to be an issue. Uh and then on top of that, uh we do carry quite a bit of debt, which we talked
about yesterday. Um so we're trying to pay that down and you know, it's paying down your credit card basically. It it needs to happen. Uh so, uh I think we're making progress in those two areas. Uh health insurance, I I honestly don't know what to do. Um, you know, we have a
small 600 person uh pool uh that we're compared to. Uh, and you know, and unfortunately two or three people become very very sick. Uh, cost about a half a million dollars each. Uh, that brings
our our rates up. So, it's it's very difficult um to to combat that. Uh so um but at the end of the day we are in the positive and we're making strides to continue to be in the positive uh which we've done every single year you know
for for here and uh and always in the past. So >> thank you. What's what's the process for the um departments who have gone over to have better I guess budgeting uh in in
the future? >> Yeah. So um what we'll do is we'll be able to identify where the negatives and all the where all the positives were um and then talk about okay for example DPW fire police are two very good examples
where uh vehicle maintenance uh and vehicle parts were tremendously underbudgeted um and to the tune of probably between those three departments around $150,000 uh total. So, we need to look at that
next year. What do they think they're going to fix? Um, you know, what are the what's the status of the vehicles? Maybe they're going to get a couple new vehicles uh possibly uh and then work from there. So, we so this will allow us to pinpoint those exact uh areas.
>> Great. Thank you, Councelor Minhos. >> Howdy. Uh question that I had been discussing with a few constituents was does the city currently offer a opt out option for health insurance in order for
us to reduce our costs because like Jenny was just saying many other cities and towns are also dealing with the exact same stuff. There have been other cities and towns that have implemented opt out um programs. So, you say to a
city employee, hey, if you don't want to take the city insurance, uh this is how much we give you in in cash. And then on top of that, these are some amenities. For example, I don't know, a gym membership plus free parking anywhere in the city plus yada yada yada whatever,
right? that overall you could, you know, even if you give them five to 10 or seven or eight,000 a year in benefits, you're still actually spending less per person on that. So, is
there any plans to implement something like that or can we just are we just going to be like, well, I guess we're paying for it. We have a we have a couple of things that we're thinking of, but that is not one of them. First of all, you have to
have a pool of money set aside for that, which we'd have to do that not this year, but you know, the year afterwards because you'd have to fund that. Um, there was some discussion with the attorney of whether or not that
was really a great idea because you might have people that would be opting out that actually then won't be covered. Um, so that's not actually the best thing for the employee that works here. Um, I do know that I know a couple of
towns that are near by well one that does it and you know sometimes the problem with that is somebody would opt out for that year, wait a year, come back to Greenfield, uh, take their spouse's or significant other's insurance if they were eligible
for it, and then come back another year later to to opt into Greenfield's insurance. But you have to allow enough money in the pot of insurance for all your employees if they're taking it. And this year we're we are over the
insurance. That wasn't one of the biggest overages, but um and we we increased that significantly because it just went up in the last two years. Yeah, we we've um we've spoken to our
consultant in that area and there's uh some ways that we can go about reducing the cost, but it will be very very very unpopular on how to do that. And you know, most notably is the split. We're 8020 split. 80% paid by the town, 20%
paid by the employee. that's frankly unsustainable um given the cost uh as well as the co-pays, the co-pay amounts, uh things like that. But that all requires the ability to negotiate that with the
unions uh through the insurance advisory committee. Um and unfortunately, uh we'll all need to come together, not unfortunately, we will have to all come together at some point on what to do in the future. >> Yeah. I mean, if you look at other
cities and towns, they don't all do AD20 and neither do they all, you know, not offer a opt out program cuz there there is one. I mean, you don't force it. You don't that's why you don't do mandates, right? Everything is in black and white. There's gray areas. The world operates
in gray. And you can have things where you give people the agency to choose. Now, somebody who's like me, right, in my 20s, I might not that have that many health issues. Um, but somebody who's an older employee might, right, and wouldn't opt out. But that's why you
give them the choice and empower them to say, "Hey, would you rather want these benefits?" Because at the end of the day, I mean, you can, this isn't a charity organization. We're a we have a fiduciary responsibility to working class who pay the taxes and with the
8020 plus not offering any like buyback or any opt out it's just financially irresponsible at like 10 years 15 years 20 50 years what h how far are you just going to go >> where are you going to get the money
>> so we did two years in a row we've brought All of we have 17 unions and the insurance advisory committee is the union steward for each for each union and two years in a row we have
gathered. Uh I thought we were close the first year because we did want to change this split from 8020 to 7030 and we did pretty well. We were close to that. Um, I think there were two or
three unions that would not did not vote for that. So, you can't proceed because it's a change in working conditions unless we had agreement from everyone. And then last year, we tried it again. And I just thought, you know, we did not get a consensus. It
was a, you know, secret ballot, but we had to have everybody see if they would agree to do that. And this year and last year, the economy is so much worse to go to the grocery store, it is so much more expensive. So I think if I were the
union steward, I probably wouldn't be voting in favor of that because I would be representing all the people in my union. I had a hard time going forward with that last year, not expecting it to pass. And this year with what's
happening with the economy, I cannot imagine that um the union leaders would come through and vote for a big change in insurance. So, and just remember, you need the consensus from 17 different unions. We actually tried it in the
negotiating with each of you know each unions. I let the schools know and us know. Nobody got there. So, it's we all of those suggestions are great and just believe that we will have no stone unturned and we will talk about
what you suggested again for the following year. I don't know. I'll have to talk to some of the other towns that are doing that to see if they actually found it was a great savings. Maybe it was, but I don't see maybe when people actually see what happens the next year
they would go for I don't really know. I mean, >> councelor, sorry, I'm gonna cut you off. >> Yeah, sorry, just last thought. Um, the thing is if we we might be able to get away with it this year or under your term, honestly. But in the next term or
in the 5 to 10 years later, we're going to come at a crossroads where it's going to be like, okay, departments are going to have to either lose 5 to 10 employees or those employees are going to have to compromise on that 8020 number or those
employees are going to have to not get that insurance, you know, and we might not be at that crossroads right now, but I mean, numbers don't lie. data doesn't lie. At some point, you're going to be hit with that wall and it
might not come in your term, but at some point that's going to happen where it's going to be like, okay, as a union, we get it. Your responsibility is to advocate for your members, but it's either going to be because simply we don't have the money
>> to to, you know, uphold this behemoth of bureaucracy. It's either going to be cut down the employees and those people will just lose their jobs or that 8020 number is going to have to change. >> Thank you for listening to my suggestions.
>> I have counselor Golib, please. I I appreciate trying to think about this creatively because it's true that we're getting to a crisis place and it reminds me of our conversation that we had last a few months ago about
singlepayer health care and it just seems I mean we might be saving a few thousand dollars if we have a and it is important to to look at creative solutions anywhere we can. I'm and it is it is just completely unjust to to all
the municipalities to all the workers who you know this it is getting to that crisis place that that wall that you're talking about. So, I'm just curious if you've been in any conversations, if you've um at the state level, if you're hearing any discussion about singlepayer
or any comments you might offer to them. >> After going through I I mean, I would say last year was traumatic. After going through that, I talked with our legislative delegation because I feel like they need to do something on the legislative with the insurance
companies. Um, however, Massachusetts actually is built upon, you know, insurance, health, and education. So, I didn't see anybody picking up that little basket and wanting to carry it.
Um, but certainly we we did do that. And um I don't think that that's going to happen either because just because of the investment that the state has made in health
insurance and and um yeah and education. Those are you know that we're known for for those things. We are actually known for those. And I don't know what's going to happen. I was at a meeting where people were
practically crying, pitting one against another um when Joe Cford and Natalie came out. Um I was at that meeting on you know to see if we could change the um
chapter 70 funding and the people drove far to get to Greenfield to plead their case. But it's not happening this year and I don't think it's going to happen next year. In the meantime, cities and towns
need to figure out the impossible. We everything that councelor Minhas said, we thought of and tried. >> Did you have a followup? >> Just to follow up to say thank you for taking any opportunity that you can to advocate for. I don't know what the
solution is. singlepayer seems like a really positive one, but whatever solutions that you can advocate for along with the rest of us, I appreciate that. >> Uh if Councelor Bullock and then councelor Bottomley, um this was back a little ways, but I
think finance director Nimbukawi said like we're going to have to all come together to make these big decisions. And as we had like a preview of just rounding out 2025's budget last night in Ways and Means, I appreciate um the sentiment and I hope that as these
decisions and ideas on how to be curious about doing things differently to save us money come up that they're they're brought to the conversation. I know um I did a risk benefit analysis for my organization on opt out and in
Massachusetts um it's not really a viable option because we have a mandate for health insurance. Um, and I also know that an 8020 split, um, for anybody that's actually like working class,
that's like a wage labor person or family. And, um, that could mean $1,200 for a family to be paying a month out of what could be a 20 $2,400 a month that they're making uh, total. So, it's not realistic to ask. I think
it's really important that the city remains a good employer um and protects its employees and their benefits uh in the long haul. And if that means looking at what our capacity or like carrying capacity is, it's it's super unfortunate because we're talking about people. Um
but I just appreciate that those conversations are ones that are going to be open and brought to the floor of of course um the union stewards have the best interest in mind as well. Um, and I just also wanted to thank you both
for the conversation last night on uh in ways and means. It was super helpful and um appreciated the tone of and openness of being able to go through and start what is going to be a hard budget year for everyone uh to start that
conversation. So, thank you, >> Councelor Bottomley. Um, I just wanted to also thank you because last year's budget, what I've seen is a dedication from the administration to save jobs and it was obvious in a million dollars of expense cuts that people that were on
ways and means through those budgets, it was not easy. It was not easy for the department heads or the departments to handle those cuts, but they were made with an intention to save positions and to save our workers and our jobs. So, what I've seen from our city has been a
really concerted effort to do everything possible to save those jobs and including the 8020 split. I I just want to make sure we're talking about it lot a lot. It's not like they ran to this to try to take away from employees. I just want to make sure we're clear that
everything is being done to try to make attractive positions, competitive wages, uh, as equitable as as humanly possible. So that's what I've witnessed on ways and means and I appreciate from the finance department and and everyone working in the city to make the most of
of every dollar we have because we're stuck at the city level that we have to make it work. We don't have any other piggy bank. We rely on the state. We rely on federal. But we have to make it here. We don't have any other way to do it. So I I appreciate your work and I
know how difficult it is. Thank you so much. All right. I'd like to invite Superintendent Martin to come up and give uh we've got a presentation about the Franklin County Tech School and the new building project.
So, thank you for joining us. >> Absolutely. >> Welcome I appreciate everyone having me here tonight uh to try to fit me into a very busy agenda. Um I just wanted to provide some information of where we are in the
process with the MSBA for a proposed new facility and and as we're looking at it um if we just go to the next slide. There you go. Um it started about eight years ago um when we had the old Federal
Pacific electrical switch gear and our lights were flicking on and off. Our machines were going on and off and we're trying to figure out what was going on. Um and we then hired a contractor to come in and they identified that we needed um
uh an electrical switch gear to um to be ready in case of a malfunction. We have about 17 of these in the old electrical um switch gear area. And so we just we got the one that they identified that
might go on us. And so we had it rebuilt. It took a few months, cost about $150,000 at the time, and um it was about two days later on a Friday,
the electrical switch gear malfunctioned completely. And what that means, if we didn't have it on standby, we would have been out of school for two months until something else was able to be built. So, it was a a big wakeup call for us where
we now we got 11 others that were identified as pretty sketchy. So, we went out and got some more. Um, of course, each one is going to be about $100,000 and try to put on standby. So, we didn't go out and buy them all. Um, and then we went out and bought another
one and put it on standby and two months later and another switch gear went. That got us to think about, let's have the MSBA come in and take a look at our facility because the outside's beautiful. I think our maintenance job and our kids have done a great job
updating the facility and keeping it looking good, but the internal structures were beginning to malfunction um and had been for some time. So, they came in and the MSBA looked at our building and just forgive my cough. I'm
struggling with that chronic cough everyone's got. I I just had it for weeks. Um and uh they came in and took a look at our facility and they put us to the top of the list uh because they just didn't go through the electrical switch
gear. They went through everything and um they were very concerned about our facility. So we got the notice back that they approved us uh for a new building project and what it might look like. But
if you do a major replacement of the electrical mechanical system, the cost estimators from the MSBA identified it being $32 million to replace all that. Like, wow. And then they said, once you do a major overhaul like that, you're no longer grandfathered in to the sprinkler
system. So now you got to pay for the sprinkler system. And our new well, no oil. And then our roof would um at the end of its life would need to be replaced in stages. And um that would be a significant cost. And we had to shut
down various hallways and continue to do so with the underground plumbing and water and sewage issues um that doesn't smell too nice when they go under. And luckily we were able to find some of the problems um after we hired a company to
come in. So with all that to to be able to fix what we currently have would be coming from the MSBA would be about 75 million. That would just be able to fix for us to continue on. Um we put this off because we knew we were in the
pipeline for um an MSBA project. If I can go to the next slide, please. And all this is just saying the difference between going through an MSBA project of a 30-year bond versus trying
to fix the existing problems through um many small 15-year bonds. So that's just an idea we were floating around because we initially we didn't want the new facility. We really wanted to make sure we were
being diligent with our taxpayers. So we can go to the next slide. So, this you can't see too well, but it basically identifies eight designs that the design team came in to do. And we were really interested in what it would just take the minimum amount of cost
just to update us and put us a code and they came up with the far one on the left is $103 million. That's with no money reimburseed back to the towns. That's just um because the MSBA can't
fund anything that's not going to be brand new. So just to get it up to code, that's what we were faced with. So we looked at all the other options um and we narrowed it down to the three that I kind of double boxed there and we
looked at option 8A as the one that we were going to go with. If we can go to the next slide, we'll explain a little bit where we're at. Um, this is our current facility. A a new project would be in that part C of land that we
currently own as not to disrupt the educational process over time. The next slide. And this design that was chosen was, you can see it kind of lumped out the back. That's where all the vocational shops would be. Because right now as you walk
down our hallway, you're in a math class, you you are smelling the collision repair fumes in your math class. You walk down a little further in your special ed class, you're smelling auto tech and the welding shop across from the English department. So, it's
not working um with kids um learning environment. So, we were able to um agree to that design and that was um about the lowest cost one that they came up with. Next slide.
That's just the interior of it. You can't really get a good look at it now. I know it's in probably some of your um handouts. Those are just proposed right now when it's still in the schematic design phase. So, these are still conceptual. Next.
And that's just the academic portion which is away from the vocational portion. Next. And this is what they're currently looking um as a proposed drawing what it might look like. Next.
And that's just a more updated. And what they try to do here is make the brick on the front match the mills in the area. So, it kind of blends into um what we have and the corners are more for the modernized buildings that you find on
Industrial Boulevard. Next, and that's our decision making matrix. you know, we met with some students, parents, um, some teachers, administrators, designers, OPMS, and we started going
through every single thing in detail over a long period of time to try to narrow down what the decision would be. And 8A came out for a couple reasons. One, it was one of the lowest priced options. There was one option $500,000
um less but kind of embedded everything into the same environment so the students would still be smelling those fumes. So we went with um that particular one. The next slide and this is the cost per square footage
right now. Um that's going to come down a little bit because of the new um the new proposal that passed with the MSBA um is going to lower that per square footage but not not drastically but you know probably by a total $4
million or so. So it's about $893 right now. And um that's a total cost would be $246 million. come down a little bit. And then when you look at a total reimbursement around 50%, it's about 123
million um divided by the 19 towns by the equalized valuation would be the approximate breakdown. Again, we'll have more refined numbers as we go through the process. Um when we compare it to other like voke schools, we look at Southshore VK, same size, population as
our school. Um but they did theirs several years before us and their projection was 280 million for the same number of students and their cost per square footage was around the same. So we got a pretty excuse me
so our design team really listened to our concerns around the economics of this because every year supplies and materials go up 4% and the labor goes up 4%. So it jumps dramatically in a short period of time. Next slide please.
And to magnify that, this is kind of a screen you need a mag a magnifying glass for. But you look at the bottom and that highlighted red dot is the Greenfield um high school that was done back in 2013
when they cost around $66 million. And when all those other dots that are around it are all the other MSBA projects that were going on simultaneously and what their cost. So Greenfield did better than some of the ones above it and there was some below
it. But when you project those cost but now this is done through the MSBA. This is the cost estimated coming from them of where we are today with especially after COVID as you are well aware all the prices skyrocketed. We're the red dot up here. And even though we're on
the lower end of that, that is a ridiculous jump since 2013. So that just gives us an idea of the cost of um what's been going on in Massachusetts with the Massachusetts School Building Authority. Next slide,
please. And this is kind of where we are with enrollment. It's, you know, one of our concerns was everyone who built a vocational school um over the last 20 over the last um 20 years has increased
their enrollment when they built a new school, but they don't live out here. So, I kind of squashed that idea and I didn't think it was a good idea that we build a building um and
they got enough school districts in the area that struggle for population. So, I wanted to have it to be more reasonable. So, we have 650 plus students in the building now. we're gonna build a new one for only 600 students to try to help keep the cost down and uh and try to
partner with our member school districts and we thought that was the right thing to do and I know some in the MSBA may not agree with us but of course they want to pump the price up as high as they can go because they make more money so um I think that's where we were there
and so our enrollment hit a high last year at 591 went down to 579. I know if we built a build a much bigger building, could we fill it with 7 or 800? Probably. But at the long-term cost of all of our
communities and the cost of such a building wouldn't be worth it. Next slide, please. Well, one of the things that is a pet peeve of mine is too many voke schools are going on the college track to a point where um they're skimming off the
top of a lot of the kids and um so there was an independent evaluation done with this of all of the vocational schools across the state and Franklin County Tech came out number one doing what we said we were going to do based on job placements and based on employment
trends and based on co-op. We're holding true to what our school's designed to do. And so, you know, we don't do the job that Greenfield High School does. They do a tremendous job with their college prep courses, AP course. That's
not who we are. You know, we want kids to go and gain the experiences and skills they need so they can help give back to the communities in which they live. and our followup data supports that when we do our Perkins grants that as you drive around you'll see um
electrical trucks, plumbing trust, carpent trucks. They're probably graduates of Franklin County Tech. They're now reinvesting back into their towns. They're buying homes, paying taxes, raising families, and uh I've been there long enough to see some kids
come back as my teachers, and now their kids are coming here. So, uh, it's been a while. Uh, next slide, please. And this is just how we are able to do some of the things that we're able to do. Um, such as we have a 12,000 square
foot aviation maintenance technology program that we just started. We built that. Um, we have a veterary clinic, a new program there that we just started. These are all done through competitive grants. So they don't come from the tax base and that's really important or we
don't start a new program or we don't get new machines. If we can't go out and get the money outside of the tax base, it's it's hard for us to then raise the assessments to our towns to be able to accomplish those types of goals. And then why it's real important. You know,
Greenfield doesn't have as much of a concern with this, but a lot of our member towns do with kids going over to take um agricultural and animal science courses at Smith V. Smith Voke does not have school choice.
So, they're stuck having to pay the out of district tuition plus the transportation at a minimum of 50 up to $80,000 per student to go to a school. So, we've started this animal science and veterary science program and
continue to look to expand it. I just put in for another $2.5 million grant to try to expand that and keep the member district kids where they belong right here in the county. And that's much better financially for all of our towns as well. Next slide, please.
And that's just our hanger. Next slide, please. That's the veterary clinic and all this is done in the last several years. And then next uh clinic, I mean next one is a basic timeline kind of where we're at. Although we're a little further down. This is an old timeline
for I think about 3 weeks ago or so. Um but we're looking at um a vote going out in the fall of next year and then after that um depending on the outcome of that
will then dictate the rest of it. So that's kind of the general timeline. Next slide, please. And so what's it for Greenfield? Um for the best we can tell right now, I know this number will be a little lower based
on um new calculations, but it's still an an I think it's an eye popping number. You know, you go over 30 years and we just heard about the economics and the economy and uh that's not easy. It's going to be
uh right now projected at 2.38 million um based on the EQV. It kind of explains a little bit about what the EQV is. A lot of our towns um probably outside of Greenfield has asked us to kind of calculate well what if you didn't exist
then where our students go? Well, we said by state law um if a student wants to go to a vocational school they have to go this the sending and the towns have to be able to provide that. So if it so if it was for Greenfield, we just took what last year's numbers were. I
don't think all 135 kids would choose to go to a voke school far away, but maybe a third would, you know, um it would still be more than what the current payment is. Um what's the next slide? Um this is we just got a few slides left
and one of the brand new initiatives coming from the state is the lottery and how that would all work. And just to sum it up, um it's going to be um selected on February 5th by a third-party company that's doing
this for a number of the vocational schools. Um and the way it basically works is that a student will submit their application. We need the um to a test and to verify their address and um then it goes by the quarter of the town.
So currently, if we go to the next slide. So currently there's 129 students enrolled as of October 1, 2025 from Greenfield, down from the 135 that you saw earlier. So it's pretty safe to say that this year's town assessment is
going to be lower overall because of that. Um and right now if you divide the quarter, I think Greenfield's quot um quarter is 189.6 or eight or something like that.
Um for grades 9 through 12, so if you just have one grade level, it's about 47 students. That said 45, we updated it's actually 47. So I apologize for that. So 47 students um would be eligible uh to get in that
would automatically get in based on a lottery. Currently we have 50 students um who applied. So, three kids right now, but I believe everybody who wants to go to Franklin County Tech from Greenfield will end up going because
there's an average of about 10% who will say who will apply, but then when it comes for the confirmation, they don't come. So, we had 38 such students a year ago in all of our 19 member towns. So, we project that number to even be higher
because now it there really wasn't a lot the students had to do to apply. It was really easy. They were able to do it and um there wasn't an interview. There wasn't anything with their report card. They just had to just submit something that they wanted to apply and they
applied. So, we don't know how many will confirm, but we project that number is going to be a lot of non-confirming compared to previous years. Next slide. And that's where the questions come in.
I have my business manager here as well um who took over for longtime business manager Russ Cobris who was here for almost 30 years and um so we'll take any questions that you might have
councelor Golib. So, I'll start by appreciating the fact that that that that uh bar graph and seeing how you all are working in accordance with your mission. I want to appreciate that and I think
that the timing of this presentation is a little challenging. >> Yeah. >> Given where we were 20 minutes ago. >> Yeah. >> Um and I'm sitting here wondering what does this mean for Greenfield voters and taxpayers? And what are you all what
what do you what's the ask? Is there an ask? Do we have say is there a vote? What choice do we have? When does this vote come to us? Uh $2.5 million per year. What there there's a lot of information here. What does this mean
for our voters, our taxpayers, and what is the discernment that we're needing to make? >> Okay, so um great questions. We had the vote through the MSBA >> recording stopped
>> scheduled for next fall. Um that >> MSBA is >> recording in progress. >> Those of us who are not in this I you probably said this at the beginning but the build business the the building administration is that what is the MSBA? What is that? >> Sorry. Sorry. My fault.
>> We did not the language that we >> I hate when educators throw the acronyms around and don't explain it. So, I got to get the merit for that one. Um, it's the Massachusetts School Building Authority. Okay. It's the funding source
that gives reimbursement back to cities and towns when they do school buildings. Um, and so we're looking at a vote next fall and if we get a yes vote, then we would of
course continue with um the progression of the project. If we get an overall no vote, then some of the critical items I presented earlier in the slide will have to be addressed. So, um, and those don't come with reimbursement. So that's kind
of what we're kind of balancing with. >> And so MSBA yes vote is do do the funds come from the state? What exactly are they voting? >> They will fund 50%. >> And then and Okay. So >> and then the towns fund the other 50%.
>> By statute, by vote, by do the other towns have a choice about whether they participate in that? >> Great question. will have a district-wide vote according to the
regulations and regional agreement that will occur on the same day um for I hope as long as possible for like 13 hours like start early in the morning and go until early in the evening like like 7:00 a.m. to like 8:00 p.m. And all 19
member towns will vote on the same language at the same time, right? And then at the end of those, those votes are then tallied. And then if there's a majority vote, we move forward. If there's not a majority vote, then we have to recalculate.
>> And is that district-wide vote after the MSBA makes their decision about whether they will contribute to 50%. >> They made their decision. >> They did make their decision. They made the decision and granted the 19 member towns that award just whether we're
going to vote on receiving that $125 million um or you know we'll look at other avenues. >> Okay. And when does that vote happen? >> Next fall. >> Okay. And so if the entire district
votes no, then the money doesn't come and then there's more decisions to be made. Right. And if the entire district votes yes >> y >> are what is the what is it that we're voting on a 30-year bond? >> Yes, it would be a 30-year bond. Correct.
>> Okay, great questions. >> I've been to like 17 other towns, so I've heard a lot of questions and you've asked some really excellent ones. But thank you, Councelor Garrett. Um, I just want to thank you for the
thorough presentation and you know this has been a consistent pattern anytime you've come before us, Superintendent Martin, and so I really appreciate just your the stories you present with data to make them understandable for people. So, thank you for that. >> Um, my question ties into slide number
three and 13. So, on slide three, there's a mention, you know, you mentioned that the sprinkler system would have to be updated if we made these other updates. And I noticed down below that it mentions energy efficiency. And then we saw slide 13 which shows the tremendous increase in
the cost of building for schools by the MS uh MSBA, the Massachusetts School Building Authority. And so I'm just wondering if there's any sort of interaction with bringing a new building up to code with the specialized energy code or you know the kind of extension
beyond the stretch code. Would this new building have to meet the specialized energy code because it's a state entity? >> It definitely has to meet the stretch goes and the lead and and do you got any uh >> Yeah. So, we'll get additional points for meeting those efficiencies. >> Can I have you turn on your mic just so
the public can hear? Thanks. >> Yeah. So, the MSBA has a whole scorecard. >> Yeah. >> Um or our designers will work with and we'll get additional points for reimbursement based on these efficiencies. Okay. >> So, they're looking into numerous rebates. I mean they go through the
whole gamut. We have sustainability meetings and it's a super important initiative for their projects. >> So it sounds like and correct me if I'm wrong by going we're in the Franklin Tech is incentivized to go for the specialized energy code higher energy efficiency even though it increases the
overall the pro cost of the project total but it lowers it for Franklin Tech. Is that fair? >> It's you're pretty close on that. It's my understanding that um yes, it does cost a little more money to go to the energy efficient route, but you get more
points, which then comes more reimbursement from the MSBA, which more than makes up for that cost. >> Got it. >> All right, that's very helpful. Thank you. >> Did I have councelor Minhas? Okay. And then councelor Brown. >> So, I just want to kind of clarify what
councelor Golib was asking. In the simplest terms, in the most layman terms, what is it that you're asking the city? >> What's the amount? >> Right now, I'm providing information where we're at, which was the major
mantra. Um, once we completed our schematic design and have more refined cost, we're giving you a ballpark idea what it what we're projecting it could cost. Um, so we'll be pretty close to that number. So, what I'm asking from
them um is providing you information about that particular cost. You know, I'm not going to sit here and advocate yay or nay. I'm just going to say here's what the projected cost is looking like. Can you give that number?
>> Yeah. $2,380,000 is the projected cost. >> Okay. A year for what? 30 years. >> For 30 years. >> Okay. Thank you for that. Um, now I am totally in favor of this, right? Because
I think this is there was so much misinformation around my generation who's now gone out of college but just kind of somewhat recently gone out of college, right? We were told you don't want to work with your hands.
That's just looked down upon and also doesn't pay well. What you want to do is get straight A's in school and then you go to a really nice college or university and the scholarships will cover it all. You won't have to pay a dime and you get a really nice degree
and then after that you get to be have a suited boot job on the 20th floor in Manhattan and then you make $200,000 and you'll have no debt or anything. >> Yeah. >> And that frankly has proved to be horshit.
I wish I never got straight A's in school. I wish I never actually went to a prestigious university. I wish I never had gone through a top 10 school because now here I am $80,000 of debt because they lied to me halfway through my four years. They were like, "Oh yeah, we're covering it. We're covering it." And
then two years they're like, "Oh, we had some federal cuts. We're going to have to do some restructuring." Y do you still want your degree? If you don't, then you can leave. And I'm like, "What the I I I spent half my time here. What do you mean?" So, of course, I'm going to do it. And that is a story for so much of our generations. And the
alternative to to to that is schools like yourself who actually are investing in a young person's ability to provide for themselves because AI can take over a lot of stuff. AI can't take over plumbing, electrical, farm work, all of
that stuff. So I appreciate you guys compiling all of this. The only one thing I would like to say right and this is going to be a long process. If you and you guys probably already do this, but if you could increase the amount of programs that a town or a city
like Greenfield, their residents who aren't school members, right, but could have by attending your place, you know, like an afterchool thing or an adult education thing. Somebody wants to get a certification. That certification costs five grand, right? And they're like, "Oh, I don't know. where would I even
get that? But if they can go to Franklin Tech and have it cost next to nothing, right, this the district as a whole would be a lot more accommodating and be like, you know what, two millionaire that maybe that's not so bad, but at least we'll have all sorts of things. Um
the reason why that's such a crucial point over the last uh four years we have applied for this um competitive grant for evening school programs and which has increased from 800,000 to 1.2
million to now we're up to $2.2 2 million dollar and there's we partner with the workforce development and we conduct I knew that was coming.
We conduct carpentry, welding, electrical, auto tech, culinary, and building maintenance as our uh pathways for adult learners at zero cost to the adult learner. and they're coming away
from it with struggling. You know, we're trying to close the skills gap. If we can close the skills gap for those who are undermployed or displaced workers, they're going to contribute back to our member towns in a very high way and be able to support their families and it's
only for the member towns. So, our evening programs have been packed and they've been full and it hasn't cost them anything. >> For example, if you could say, okay, we're going to increase two things. one, you could say, "Okay, we're going to increase the Greenfield quota." >> Yeah.
>> Right. The amount of actual students, right? Even if it's by 10th, but that gives you something to say, >> right? Um and then second, those programs that you're talking about, if you pair that with the construction and you say, "Hey,
if we construct, we can offer more of these, right? And we will. This is not just a pie in the sky. We will this much in aeronautics, this much in electrical, this much in plumbing, this much in the, you know, for the member
towns that who don't have the students that are in there, you know, just for the regular civilian. I think that would be a much much easier cell cuz then somebody who's like, "Oh, okay. Maybe my my kids are all grown up. I'm paying taxes. I'm already struggling. Now you're telling me to pay 2 million. What
for? Get out of here." >> Right? And that's a good point because that's one of the avenues we are currently exploring. You know, we're going to see where we are with our facilities and what have you about having students, you know, participate in after school type of programs is not
out of our realm of possibilities. So, you're very insightful. Okay. Thank you so much. Thank you, >> Councelor Brown. >> Hi. Um, this question might be like a bit premature, but I'm wondering if there are plans for the old building if
it passes. Um, and what like the estimated value of that is and if it can offset the project for new construction? >> No. So, from what we're hearing from the engineers and the OPMS and the MSBA who came in and took a look at the building,
there really wasn't. That was one of our first options. Can we just get it up to code? Well, get it up to code is one thing, but you still have all that asbestous and walls and old building materials in there that are beginning to falter anyways. So, it's kind of we'll
keep throwing money into a building if we just get it up to code. So, the recommendation is to dismantle the building. And there's one um uh graph that shows where it's located. Um, and then
while we're building the new one, then we turn that old one into the new baseball field and soccer field that the brand new one would take over. So, it would be that kind of switch that would happen. Um, again, we're a little bit ways out. We're not done with the
schematic design and all that stuff, but that's what we're hearing. >> All right. I I have two questions. Um the first is just about the vote and if that would be a special election or on the regular election day and then if it
is a special election um how is that budgeted for is that paid for by the tech school or is have to come out of our town budget. So about 8 or 10 years ago when we realized we might have to go for the MSBA project, we started to um
try to use those students tuitions which are not a member town tuition. Like right now Greenfield pays I think $9,900 per pupil but um someone from a town like Row or Levit paying like $25,000.
So taking that money and putting it aside, we were able to fund the feasibility study without going out to bond to our taxpayers, but we get reimbursed through the MSBA at about a 60% rate. So as we're spending that money, we're getting that reimburse.
We're going to take that money and that's what we'll pay for it. >> Okay. >> That will pay for the election. That's going to pay for the election for all 19 member towns. >> Yeah. It would be a separate special election. Correct. >> Okay. Um,
and you might not know the answer to this, but you know, because we're carrying a lot of debt in Greenfield, uh, just concerns about our bond rating and how adding another bond is going to affect us as a city and how that gets looked at. >> I'll turn that to my business manager
who might know more about that than me. >> Pretty pretty uh, new with the bonding. Um, we're working with UNIPE. Um, directly the impact for your bond rating. I'm not 100%. Um, I don't anticipate it. I don't know what your current debt is. Um, but it sounds like
it's it's extensive. Um, so it's something I can look into with um with UNIPE. Um, Uni Bank, excuse me. We have UNIPE also um to try to get those answers for you. >> Great. Thank you. >> Welcome. >> Counselors. Any other questions? Uh,
councelor Boulder. >> Hi. Thank you for coming. Um, I'm actually a graduate of the class of 2010 myself, so I can appreciate what the tech school does. Um, my question is is actually about area J, where it says possible site grading. Does that include any potential costs for things like um
potential uh dig sites, things like that. I know the area has a rich indigenous history and I'm not sure whether it's been disturbed since um whether or not there will have to be any sort of funding for things like that nature. That's all calculated within the cost. That was already predetermined
that that was going to be something that needed to be reviewed and looked at for endangered species, for Native American burial sites because the airports covered in that um that arena. So, we've already been working with the tribal
council. Um we've been working with the endangered species. All that's calculated in the potential cost. >> Excellent. Thank you very much. Yep. >> Great. Thank you so much. It's good to get a preview many many months before uh
it comes down upon us right away. So, thank you. >> Okay. Well, thank you for having us. Thank you. >> Okay, great. So, we're just moving to the public comment portion of our meeting tonight. Um, and just as a reminder, if you want to make public comment that there's a signup sheet
here. Um, when you come up, you just hit the button and it'll turn green. Uh, you've got three minutes and you have to state your name and where you live. And right now, I've got um Pamela Goodwin. Good evening, councilors. Pamela
Goodwin, 54 High Street, apartment 307. Um, I just have a a few items to bring up. Um, several years ago, the mayor put me on the GET um commission and uh we no longer have anybody ever showing up for
public comment for quite some time now. So, I would just um love to be able to inform the public. Um if you get on the city website, you scroll way down, you'll see the link for for a G set. Um I particularly would hope that people
would find the December 9th minutes that we recently approved. There's a northbuild update. Usually, people want to know all about that. Um MBI is paying for the utilities, not the town. Some of you know what make ready is the royal
pain in everyone's butt as far as expansion goes. So MBI as a partner with us has picked up that part of the um I think it's part of the gra the gap grant. Um we are firmly in the black. Um
and that's explained as well. Um the video hopefully will be up there. We just met on January 13th. We try to be consistently meeting each month on the same Tuesday. Um, so I would hope that people could take a look at that. If you
have a problem finding where it all is located, I suggest you call the G set folks and they'll point you in the right direction because you kind of have to fish around just a little. Secondly, last time we met, there was a lot of concern about the um
NGO um the nonprofit people buying up lots of property around for um shelters, solder houses, housing of any kind for the unhoused. Um and that was mentioned
at the last um meeting. I'm concerned about that because for several reasons. I've put in some calls down to the state house. I'll be reaching out to the um secretary of state, the attorney
general, and um I really want us to have houses that are for sale that people can actually buy that are not being sucked up and utilized. There's a lot of property down in the Springfield area owned by Cso as well as in the town of
Greenfield as well as Service Net and CHD. I mean, I'm working with some people that are unhoused because I care about them deeply. Um, so I suggest that other people also investigate some of that that's going on. I was a business
owner for 19 years. I ran another business simultaneously for three or four years. A good friend had said to me,"Well, you don't pay taxes." Well, guess what? I don't now at this age, but I really care that Greenfield taxpayers
are not unduly burdened the way that everyone has talked about. I also want to announce that Senator Joe is here this Saturday at the library. I have a funeral to attend, so I'm going to miss it probably, but you may want to go and speak with Senator Joe about some of the
things that she's also concerned in. Thank you. >> And and I could just say please try to figure out how we're going to replace Natalie Blake because I don't think it's going to happen fast enough. We definitely need some representation from that aspect, too. Thanks. Thank you. And
I have uh Mike Love. Uh Mike Love It 96 Maple. Uh, I was here last month uh to talk about the flock safety cameras and I'm back because I learned more bad stuff about flock safety cameras. Um, so on on top of this
being a a company that I I really don't trust. This is a company worth 7 billion. It's got 88,000 cameras. It's really a mass surveillance network that has gone through without congressional approval. And luckily, I
think a lot of cities and towns around the country are just kind of becoming aware of what a problem that it is. Uh, but one of the things I learned since the last meeting was this is a a tech company from Silicon Valley that purports to be very secure,
but a number of their cameras were viewable to the public, uh, including one in the Bay Area that was trained at a playground. So again, I don't really know what the status of Flock officially is in Greenfield, but I really advocate
that Greenfield move off of it. Uh, mostly because the people involved in it are just not trustworthy. I promised last month I'd give another tidbit on Peter Teal. So, in addition to him being on the fence about whether humanity
should survive, which was an interview from last summer, he lately has been pontif pontificating about Armageddon via global wars in private meetings with investors and he himself is helping to
fund the weaponizable surveillance that could start these wars. So again, I'm really hoping to learn more about what Flock's role is in Greenfield in the future and I hope that it is coming to an end. Thank you. >> Thank you.
And I have one person um signed up online uh and that's Mike Barard. Um and you can unmute yourself and you've got three minutes. Thank you. >> Well, thank you. Um, I am another Mike and I am also here to talk about uh,
flock cameras. My name is Mike Barard. I live at 252 Log Plane Road in Greenfield and I am deeply disturbed by the presence of flock cameras in Greenfield. Um, sounds like a lot of people already know, but if you don't know, Flock Safety is a Silicon Valley company
building out an enormous network of surveillance cameras throughout the country, ostensibly to support law enforcement. They record the license plates of passing cars, which is a process known as automatic license plate recognition, and they give the police the ability to search that database. But
flock cameras go much further. They use AI to attempt to identify drivers and passengers and to identify vehicles based on dents, bumper stickers, and other unique features. They operate 247, gathering this data into a massive countrywide database. What they actually
do with this data is a mystery. As a private company funded by Silicon Valley venture capital interested only in maximizing profit, they answer to no one but their shareholders. To be clear, my concerns about these cameras have little to do with the Greenfield Police
Department. I'm concerned about a private for-profit company building out a dragnet surveillance network with zero transparency or accountability at the taxpayers's expense, as well as the chilling effect such a network has on the public. I'm concerned about the use
of AI and the resulting false positives. People have already been dragged from their cars and homes at gunpoint because AI powered systems like this have misidentified them. I'm concerned about the potential for abuse as multiple cases of police officers abusing the
Flock surveillance network have come to light, including cases of officers stalking their partners and even a case of a Texas cop using Flock to track a woman across state lines because he believes she was seeking an abortion and
he wanted to charge her with a crime. I'm concerned about the security of flock systems as well as independent sorry as independent security researchers have already revealed major issues with flock and I'm concerned about how flock will
ultimately use this trove of data they're gathering on all of us. They claim their contracts prevent them from abusing it but time and again we've seen that these Silicon Valley surveillance capitalism companies cannot be trusted. A dystopian surveillance network like
this has no place in a healthy democracy and we as the residents of Greenfield have the power to stop it from continuing to happen in our city. Thank you again. >> Thank you. And we have one last uh here
in person and that's Donovan Lee. Hi, my name is Donovan Lee and I just want to bring up some uh more local aspects of the flock conversation after some great information about the more >> Can I get your address real quick? >> Uh I live up on Petty Plane Road by the fairgrounds.
>> Awesome. Thanks. Um, so I just wanted to bring up over the last two months, really this happened in the last couple weeks since this conversation has started and there's started to be more public controversy around flock in this area. Uh, the Greenfield Police
Department either moved or put up two of their cameras. One's on the five and 10 right over by the salvage yard and one's right over by the stop and shop. That happened just over the past couple weeks. Uh, they weren't there before and now they're there now. Uh, and then also, I don't know how long ago this
was. I forget the exact time, but they have asked for access to the Lowe's and Hadley flock cameras data. Uh, I don't know why Greenfield PD would ever need the data from the Lowe's and Hadley flock safety cameras. Um, but that's
also another camera whose data has been used by ICE to do raids in Hadley. So, this is just a reflection of how the local PD is using these types of systems to reflect very divisive federal
agencies that um we all know what's going on, including ripping people out of their homes, murdering people in the streets, tear gasing protesters, violating people's rights. Um so, those are just some local aspects of that conversation. Thank you.
>> Thank you. And thank you everyone for speaking tonight. Really appreciate having everybody here. So next we're going to move on to motions, orders, and uh resolutions since we don't have public hearing or
second reading. And so I'm going to send that over to Councelor Golo for the mayor's appointments. And that's on page 19. Okay. Order number fiscal year 26066.
The city council moved that it be ordered that the Greenfield City Council pursuant to charter section 210 affirms the following appointment by the mayor to the opioid use and prevention commission. Jeffrey Jen term to expire
December 31st, 2027. Majority vote required. >> Second. And this received a positive unanimous recommendation. >> Great. Thanks. We need to do a roll call. >> Any discussion?
All right. >> Councelor Golib, >> yes. >> Councelor Gordon, >> yes. >> Councelor Bottomley, >> yes. >> Councelor Bullock, >> yes. >> Councelor Williams, >> yes. Councelor Baldick, >> yes.
>> Councelor Webb, >> yes. >> Councelor Brown, >> yes. >> Vice President Garrett, >> yes. >> Councelor Minhos, >> yes. >> Councelor Cib, >> yes. >> Does the president wish to vote? >> Yes. And yes.
>> The motion passes unanimously. >> Thank you. >> All right. Uh, last thing on our agenda is something we haven't done before, but uh, since we have some new counselors and not all of the public comes to our um,
subcommittee meetings, we thought it'd be a great opportunity to share some updates on what our subcommittees did last year and just what the committees actually do so that that's more clear to everybody. um especially people coming
on to these new committees so you know what what's been done before and what to look forward to. So uh the first report is going to be from the appointment and ordinance committee affectionately called ANO. >> Sorry, excuse me. Um Madame President,
can I go first? I have a kid who has a fever that's climbing and I'm getting increasing text messages. So I I have my report but I need to go. >> Yeah, let's if that's okay. Is that okay? I'm sorry. >> Absolutely. I I have a sick kid at home,
too. It's going around. >> It was not a not a fever when I left and now it's a real fever. Um so, thank you. I'm going to give a report for economic development committee uh for 2025. This is definitely not um the full work uh
load of the committee for the year. Uh but basically um the committee economic development committee is in charge of um planning and redevelopment, housing, commerce. There's a a tiff, a tax incentive uh
committee that one member is appointed to, sometimes two members. Um city land sales, we hold public hearings that are often joint public hearings with the planning uh planning board. Um, and if you are on that committee,
you will inevitably learn a lot about zoning um, law. And I would say if you are on there, maybe that's somewhere to start in the state law is just do a little reading to uh, to get up to up to speed on it. I've been on I was on that
committee for the last two years. So, I'm happy to uh, talk with any of the new council members if you have any questions. I learned a lot about zoning um and happy to give you more context as this isn't super in-depth. Uh we had a number of key votes and decisions through 2025. This is not in
chronological order. Apologies, but uh we had a parking benefit district that came to the council for vote and was a unanimous approval. Uh I believe that was in July. Uh it established a parking benefit district in downtown Greenfield
that um the revenue would fund downtown improvement projects and that were aimed at supporting businesses and increasing business in in the downtown area. Uh the proposal was brought forth by Derek Healey, councelor Healey, uh at the time
and uh then was approved by EDC and the full council. Um, as many people know, there was the Hope Street Lot surplus declaration. Uh, similarly, that was in the summer as well. Uh, it was an EDC vote that was voted unanimously uh to
declare 53 Hope Street a surplus property um and authorized the mayor to sell it forward. That vote was upheld by um the city council and then also was upheld by a ballot measure uh by the city residents. Um and there was a lot
of ADU zoning amendments um that were brought forth uh many many discussions uh as we had a state law um go into effect that we had to come into compliance with. So, we saw a decision
um on ADUs and housing restrictions um there was a citizens petition that was brought forward that was not adopted because it wasn't in line with the state law that was um that was approved and so
um we did end up passing um some of the minimal proposals that were needed. We had joint hearings on that and then it was brought to the council. Um besides the edu items, we also approved
some other zoning in downtown uh in the central commercial and general commercial districts. Uh there was an increase from 50 to 80 feet in downtown in zoning changes. Um allowing first floor residential units um
as space that could be mixed residential. Uh and then there was another decision that was made um that kept in a more refined area of um the downtown area that like front-facing
would be um business business only. And then finally, we had an ADU ordinance attempt that was uh similar to bring us in compliance with the state affordable homes act uh that failed in December. Um that vote was six to five short of the
needed majority of the council. Uh so because it received a favorable recommendation from the planning board. Um the process for that and if you're on EDC now you will most likely be looking forward to um I believe it has to go to
another hearing uh probably a joint hearing with the planning board in EDC. Uh and the process will just start again and it will come to the council for a vote um again in the new year. So I think that is everything major. >> Thank you counselor. And who's our new
chair of EDC? Great. So we've got Vice President Garrett. Um and I just would love everybody to who is on EDC to raise your hands so you can see who's doing that work. And we have councelor Gordon as well
virtually raising a hand. and uh any anything that got missed from any of the other members who were on EDC that you want to chime in on? >> Great. Thank you. Please go take care of your kiddo.
All right. So, we'll move back to uh councelor Gol. So, I'm going to talk a little bit more about process and how we how we do our work and how folks can bring forward changes to ordinances. We had far fewer
big controversial exciting things come through A&O last year. So, I'm not going to go point by point through the through the smaller changes that that we made. But what is A and O? It's appointments and ordinances.
And so two two-ish things come through our committee. One are appointments from the mayor to boards and commissions that are under the purview of the city council's
approval. And so in Greenfield, if when the mayor brings forward an appointment, the city council if uh if the city council doesn't vote, it immediately gets passed. But we always do vote. In
order to not approve an an appointment, nine of us would have to vote against it. The last time I remember that happening was a a couple of years ago and I think it was once that it happened. Um but ult ultimately the the
appointments come through us and then the other thing that comes through us are any changes to ordinances or to the charter. uh both changes to existing ordinances and new proposed ordinances, they come through the committee. So,
we're really stewarding it's not we're we're really stewarding the discussion of these things, but al ultimately the vote the final vote happens here. So, the committee votes to the committee members vote to recommend or not
recommend things that are coming through. So this our charter states that every five years the um the city council needs to uh review the ordinances which is a major task and
honestly I think that we did a much more comp the the records show the the the minutes of previous councils show that I think we did more of a comprehensive job of this as than in the past. Um we were a smaller committee uh and we we decided
that given our limited capacity we were all going to look at at least the ordinances under the section of gen general legislation. So there's a few different sections in our ordinances. So when people say code and ordinances it's the same thing. It's the laws that are
not subject to state approval. Our charter is like our constitution. It's subject to state approval. the the code, we have the power to pass change these laws without having to go to the state. And so we agreed to look at the laws
under the section of general legislation. There's other sections that pertain to how other um commissions and boards are are governed. But given our our extremely limited capacity, we said we'd look at those without zoning because zoning is under the purview of
EDC that councelor Bulock just talked about and um and see what changes needed to be made. There was a couple of ordinances that we that individual counselors um myself included are saying we're they still need some more um
thought and we're still working on them. um including the public assemblies ordinance but under the I've said as the I was the um chairperson last year and I'm still I still hold that role now.
I'm saying that as a task as the body holding ourselves accountable to this. the review is over. But that really the view is the review is just a a formal charge that we have every five years. At any time at any
moment the any counselor can bring forth an amendment to any ordinance and also bring forth a new ordinance. Every single one, anyone could bring that forward. So the fact that the review is done just just means that the formal
charge is no longer in place. But anyone can do that at any time and you do not need to be a member of ANO. What I have requested and kind of set as the practice is that if a community member is wanting to bring forward a new or
wanting the council to bring forward and discuss a new ordinance or an amendment to an ordinance that at least one counselor needs to take responsibility for stewarding stewarding that by sponsoring it. we in the past had had things come through but no one had
really taken responsibility for them and so they kind of lingered in in the limbo land. So if the community and I say this often when community members come to our meetings and give public comment that if community members want a new thing to come forward to please get the support
and the backing and the responsibility and the leadership of of a counselor. Um I'm just pausing to look at my notes for a moment. And what I will say is that with the really grateful to the support of the of
of clerk Scott and uh and and Quinn, thank you so much for your help. Uh we part of this process of this formal charge is that we tracked all the ordinances in a very big spreadsheet and we uh reached out to all the department
heads and the com committee and commission and board chairs to see if they had any proposed changes and really most of them that came through were um bringing the laws up to date with the practice. Um and almost all of those are
through. There's a couple still pending from uh the park and recreation department. And we also at the beginning of that process said that we wanted to be very clear about our values that would guide the process. And we named uh enforcability,
expense, and equity. not necessarily in that order, but um all as as guiding us and really trying to find that place between finding finding a place where the the laws are we're passing laws that we can actually enforce um and that are
equitable to all residents. Um I think that's everything. Would you, Councelor Garrett, add anything to that? You were on that and you were really key to that process. I think that was a great summary. I mean I the thing that I found to be by far
the most valuable I mean it was all a valuable experience but the guiding principles in particular the enforcability one were really helpful in the review. A laws not worth the paper it's printed on if it can't be enforced. So I think it was valuable that we kind of set that front and center in our
process last year. So >> great. Thank you for the great summary and thank you for your awesome work. It was and I just also want to mention Quinn's work um with the spreadsheet and really tracking things. So that was huge. So really appreciate it. Yes, we
can clap because there's folks behind the scenes that are really digging in this work. So everybody who's on an o in the coming year, >> yay. and council Gordon.
Thank you so much. >> Okay, so we're gonna move on to the community relations committee, which I had the pleasure of chairing. Um, this is a committee that didn't really have a clear mandate when when I joined the
committee uh two years ago um and didn't meet very often. And what we wanted to do and had a lot of conversations was how do we have this committee um looking at public engagement in increasing public engagement and transparency and
also be a forum for issues that might not even ever become an ordinance but are brewing in town. So we have a chance to look into something um that is a public concern. So, um, we had some
great conversations about what this committee should be. Um, and I'm just going to go through a a few of the the things we discussed and and did. I was actually kind of pleasantly surprised. We got a lot done, y'all. So, um, we created an
ad hoc committee to talk about unhoused issues. Um, and Councelor Brown has been heading that up and they've made a lot of progress. Um, we had a conversation and several conversations about flooding issues and I know the town is looking
into money to help with uh and I'm going to name is it the Maple Brook culvert issues um but there's there's some major flooding issues happening in town um that we need alleviated. Um we rewrote
the precinct meetings ordinance um to make it more streamlined and also make sure that it actually happens. Uh so that is coming to and will be finalized by ANO. Um we passed a ordinance um
protecting our trans neighbors uh a resolution sorry resolution in back in March. Um, we've had discussions on the housing projects that are in the works in Greenfield, um, to make it sure we all know, um, what's coming down the
pike. Um, and then, uh, we helped pass the climate super fund resolution. Um, we sent a letter on the singlepayer, um, that that is being discussed at the state level. So there was a letter that
was it was a resolution that resulted in a letter which is weird to say. Um we had a collaboration with the school committee um on how do we work together and better engage. So some discussions that started there. Um and then uh we
had a discussion about problematic buildings and how the city is dealing with that in an equitable way. Um and way dealing with safety issues. Um, and then we've had some discussions about noise issues and there is a community
noise forum coming up on February 12th at 6:30 at the Johnzon Center. So, and that could end up in an ordinance or could end up in some other proposals, but we've got uh Chief Dodge and others as part of the panel. So that is the
rundown and I know there's a lot of things that are on the list for next year and including a handbook and and other things. Um and we're looking continue to look at transparency. So um Councelor Brown is
going to be chairing that committee and did I miss anything from folks on the committee? No. >> Fantastic. And who else is on the committee? was used to be. >> Okay. >> No longer. >> But now you're not. >> No, I'm not.
>> All right. Great. Thank you all. >> All right. We did EDC. So, last but not least, uh we've got the Ways and Means Committee. So, I've asked Councelor Bottomly. >> Thanks. Um I'll be relatively brief, which is unusual for Ways and Means.
They tend to be really long meetings. Um, our primary task is reviewing the operating budget as submitted by the mayor. We meet with every department head who are charged with running our cities. And it's it's over 20 departments. I can't remember how many
departments, but there's a lot. Um, we get to learn their priorities, their challenges. Um, it's an incredible learning experience to see what I always tell people when they especially this time of year, what do we get for our taxes? I said please watch that month.
It's a whole month process where we have multiple meetings and you get to see all the departments and what goes into the city to keep it running. Uh it's pretty amazing. Um and the dedication and education of our the people leading our city is also impressive. So our our
charge is to review, ask questions, oversight, and make a recommendation to council. I'd say that's our biggest priority. The next is capital projects uh which we also review and we throughout the year address many
financial orders that come up sometimes transfers to departments uh midyear um I don't have all those lined out um one of the things that we've done in the past we haven't done it in a while but sometimes during that budget month we
suspend all of their committees so that the whole council can attend those which I think can be really useful just because then we're all on the same page when the budget comes to us to vote on as a full council. Um, again, our our
primary job is to ask questions and oversight. Uh, and I usually always it comes up I remind people that the city council doesn't run anything. It sounds like a simple statement, but again, we can make questions, we can make comments, but our department heads are charged with running all of these
departments. Um I think that's about it. Sometimes it's also other cities call this a finance committee rather than ways and means. Um there's a large learning curve with municipal finance. It's and uh so a lot of our interaction
is with the chief financial officer. >> I think that's it. >> Great. Thank you councelor. uh and councelor Bulock will be chairing that committee this year and folks who are on ways and means and get a chance to dig
into the budget. Yay. So, thank you all for you're going to be super busy this spring. So, that's that's a wrapup of all of our committees and what they do. Um so, looking forward moving forward into the
new committee year. Um, so we don't have any unfinished business or old business. Um, new business, uh, the February council meeting has been changed to February 25th, 2026. Uh, we had a discussion about that, um, because of
school vacation week. We wanted to make sure that everybody can make it. And that's been a problem for council members in the past. So that way you've got that in advance. And um those you who come regularly, you can make that adjustment into your calendars as well.
Uh I don't have any motions for reconsideration, so I'll take a motion to adjourn. >> I have a question. Oh, sure. Yes. Um so listening to some of the public comment this evening, I my concern around the
flock cameras have grown. Uh, anybody who's watching the news understands what's going on nationally with ICE and they've seen the horrors that I've seen. And I've been told recently that there's an
expectation that activity in Massachusetts is going to grow relatively soon. And I happen to know that at their New England headquarters in Burlington, there is a brand new fleet of cars that have been recently
purchased. So, I know folks who do immigrant rights work are buckling down right now and getting ready. And my concern is if we have flock cameras in Greenfield that ICE is going to have access to that information because it
sounds like it's controlled from someplace else, not locally controlled. So I think the issue is not academic at all. That the issue that cameras do exist is is a is a matter of concern
on a number of different levels, but perhaps it's getting more severe. So my question would be is they exist, they're there. How do we get rid of them? Who has the power to get rid of the flock cameras that now exist in Greenfield?
>> Point of order. >> I So Councelor Williams, I I appreciate the comment and because it's not on the agenda, I think we put it on the agenda um for next month and we can't answer your question tonight, but it's a good question. Thank you.
Uh, and that might be a chance to invite and if you let me know who we should invite to discuss, we can have um the mayor, the chief of police, or anyone else that makes sense for that discussion. So, thank you. >> Absolutely. Uh, and I'm not doing an
open discussion, so we're going to an adjournment if that's okay. Um, as much as I'd love to hear your thoughts on block cameras. So, uh, do I have a motion to adjurnn? >> So, moved. Second. >> Great. We're gonna have to do a roll
call. I know it's weird. >> Councelor Golib, >> yes. >> Councelor Gordon. >> Sorry, my fault. Yes. >> Councelor Bottomley. >> Yes. >> Council. Councelor Williams. >> Yes. >> Councelor Bullduck.
>> Yes. >> Councelor Webb. >> Yes. >> Council Brown. >> Yes. >> Vice President Garrett. >> Yes. >> Councelor Minhos. >> Yes. >> Councelor Cisan. Yes, >> councelor. Uh, President Walowski.
>> Yes, we are adjourned.